Arpillera

By Adeline Panamaroff

Adeline, a freelance writer/proofreader, located in Edmonton, Alberta can be contacted at www.adelinepanamaroff.com for writing and marketing requests.

History: Arpillera, named after a Spanish word for burlap, often the backing fabric of the piece, are patchwork, appliqué and embroidered cloth panels, usually meant for use as wall hangings, that vary in size. They came to be in a time of extreme adversity in Chile. From 1973-1990, after General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte seized power from a promising leftist government, this new totalitarian dictatorship arrested anyone who was a supporter of the former government and most of those people were never seen again. This left many of their female relatives without an income and thus destitute, because even those who looked for work were turned away because of their association with leftist supporters.

As a means to help these women, the Roman Catholic Church in Santiago formed the Vicaria de la Solidaridad, weekly workshops where these women could meet and sew arpilleras together. The themes that the arpilleras depicted, usually scenes of everyday life, were discussed and approved by the group as a whole, and then individuals would work out the designs and stitch them at home over the following week, with one arpillera being produced by each member. The final results were inspected by the leader of the group, and the collected arpilleras were then taken by the church to be sold elsewhere, usually outside of Chile. The money made in sales were then distributed evenly among the women in the workshops.

The stitchers, called arpilleristas, came to find these workshops more than a place to make an income. They were a place to discuss their fears and frustrations of daily living, their sorrows over lost family members, and as general support groups. The arpillera themselves also served as an essential outlet for their emotions, and a way to record the atrocities that these women had to live through. The scenes that arpilleras depicted were of daily life, but often not happy lives. Scenes of gravestones, people being tortured, street raids and much more were often the subjects for the arpilleristas to stitch.

The origins of arpilleras may have come before the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, when in the 1960s wall hangings were being embroidered in Chile with colored yarns. After the General’s take over however, pricey sewing supplies became very hard to come by. When the arpillera workshops started up, the church supplied the materials needed, and the arpilleristas also turned to using the clothing of their lost family members as applique patches to add color to their stitching. Plus, by using these articles of clothing, they were memorializing those who were lost.

It was not long before arpilleras, along with anything else that was publicly displayed and spoke against the government became illegal to own. The Roman Catholic Church continued to sell these stitched pieces but had to resort to smuggling them out of Chile in diplomatic pouches and suitcases carried by willing friends of the arpilleristas. Some of these were seized by government officials, before they could see the light of day, but many did make it to foreign markets. For this reason later arpilleras were signed with the first name of the stitcher, but many were not, for fear of reprisal from the government of General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte.

Technique: Generally, an arpillera is stitched on a backing fabric that is square or rectangular. The scene is a mixture of applique patches, and surface embroidery, which is used to fill in details like facial expressions, windows on buildings or to highlight important figures on the piece. The entire piece could either be framed with bright fabric, or have a colorful crochet border worked around it.

3D elements are also common on arpilleras. Arms, faces, and other items on an arpillera may be stuffed with rolled up scrap fabric, tinfoil, or beans before it was applied to the piece. Often, older members of the workshops, who had failing eyesight were charged with creating these 3D elements, or working the crocheted borders, in order for everyone to feel that they contributed to the efforts.

The stitches used varied greatly. The level of skill among individual members also varied. Within each workshop there were members who everyone recognized as the skilled talent, and to whom those with less experience looked to for guidance. When a finished piece was inspected by these more experienced women, the feedback was meant to be educational and helpful, not as a critical examination of the work or subject matter. All members of an arpillera workshop were seen as equal, like in a family, with no one standing above or below the others. Many of the arpilleristas were not trained artists, merely women who needed to share their stories in whatever form they could. While the designs for the arpilleras that they stitched may not follow a standard set of artistic rules, the emotions and heart-rending stories that they tell, with carefully chosen brightly colored fabrics more than makes up for any lack of formal training on the part of the stitchers.

While the general themes for arpillera were the horrifying and dismal realities of the day, many also held a sign of hope, a sun rising over the horizon, or a bright blue sky.

Innovation: Traditional Chilean arpilleras were stitched by women exclusively. A common theme in these is the Andes mountains in the background, to show that they were stitched in Chile. Later however men started to stitch arpilleras too, as a protest to the more subdued imagery and themes that the arpillera workshops approved.

Arpillera making has also been taken up beyond the borders of Chile. Colombian women started stitching these fabric records of their displacement stories in the early 2000s. Other countries have also taken up this textile art. Peru, Nicaragua as well as Columbia have women who stitch arpilleras. The themes on these arpilleras generally show life in a happy world.

The designs in the Chilean arpilleras have influenced more recent artists who use themes and elements from the original Santiago arpilleristas’ creations to make prints to memorialize the oppression of the 1980s and 90s.

Here are two examples of arpilleras from Chile, used with permission from Margaret Snook.